Help save the environment. The environment deserves our respect. You can show your respect for nature and help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay
We see this at virtually every hotel we stay at these days. There’s a good environmental message here, but the cynical amongst us might wonder whether the hotel was trying to save money too. Well, why should helping the environment have to cost us money every time?
Studies have shown that this type of message in hotel rooms works. People tend to reuse their towels. But it could be better. Work done at UCLA has revealed more information. Here’s another message.
Join your fellow guests in helping to save the environment. In a study, 75% of the guests participated in our new resource savings program by using their towels more than once. You can join your fellow guests in this program to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.
What’s going on here? Now the guests have joined other guests, a majority of whom reused their towels. There is a social norm and when the results are measured it is found that 20% more guests reused their towels. It’s called the power of social proof. Organisations often fail to harness the power of social proof, and it’s useful when you want some desirable behaviour to try and convey this information.
It’s partly linked to the herding instinct. But it’s important to make sure that you’re talking about the right herd, because we are members of several. Here’s another example.
Join your fellow guests in helping to save the environment. In a study, 75% of the guests who stayed in this room (number …) participated in our new resource savings program by using their towels more than once. You can join your fellow guests in this program to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.
Because this was specific to people who had stayed in your room, in other words, a much more specific herd, it was more effective. When the results were measured, virtually another 20% more guests reused their towels. Nearly 40% more than the standard message.
We’ve talked before about doing experiments before you introduce new products or services to customers. Most organisations even after doing the experiment, deciding that the new product or service is worthwhile, fail to tell their prospective customers about their research. In other words, they fail to give their customers the opportunity of joining the herd. If you have polled some existing customers for a new product and 75% say that they would buy it, why not tell your potential customer base when you roll out the new product? Make it easy for new customers, who will be uncertain about your new product, to feel more comfortable and more able to buy. Use the power of social proof and allow them to join the herd.
And next time you are in a hotel, remember to reuse your towels!